"Johan Santana looked good in his first rehab outing. But whether that leads to a return to Citi Field before season end remains to be seen.

Santana threw three shutout innings Thursday night for Single-A St. Lucie against the Daytona Cubs. Santana gave up two hits, walked none and struck out three. He also hit a batter in his 33 pitches.

The next step depends on how the Mets ace recovers from the outing. He is recovering from surgery to repair a torn anterior capsule in his left shoulder.

The Mets planned to let Santana, 32, throw three innings or 45 pitches, whichever came first. After throwing 18 pitches in the first inning, it looked to be the latter, but Santana used 15 pitches to get the next six outs."